It all began with wine tasting (as most good things do), in Santa Barbara going from winery to winery on a motorcycle... This was during the schmoozing stage of our relationship... Our engagement on the beach in Santa Barbara is never to be forgotten, documented moment to moment by my sisters, Laura and Chelsea, with Laura Marie Photography. This, of course, was all planned out unbeknownst to me...

We settled in La Quinta, California where Will was a golf course superintendent, and I, a salesperson at a retail plant nursery in Palm Desert. We called La Quinta home for 3 years together exploring the valley; rock climbing, trips to the ocean, camping, scenic motorcycle rides, and just being together with our four "kids"---Little Man, Baby (originally from MO), Buell and Honda. We had the opportunity to work at our favorite boutique style winery in San Diego County, Shadow Mountain Vineyards. This is a one-of-a-kind of winery where it would be impossible to leave the tasting room without learning something, getting to know the owners, and loving the wines while your at it. Loving every minute of our hands on learning we were missing the Midwest soils, smells (freshly cut alfalfa, soil, rain), sunsets, and family --- we began to research our next adventure...

The growth of the Midwest wine industry, our love of wine and the exploration of vineyard and wineries, we were curious to see what the Midwest had to offer for vines and wines. We started our online classes with Des Moines Area Community College (aka DMACC), with our instructors Randal Voss (Viticulture) and Paul Gospodarczyk (Enology). We were able to learn how to work with our cold climate cultivars through this program as our new goal was now to start our venture in Iowa where we all know and love the below zero temps and short growing season. We were able to receive hands on experience by visiting vineyards in Iowa in different stages of growth, pruning, harvest standards, and working with the winery production equipment, as well as some great guidelines and advice on how to start a vineyard and how to start a winery.

Our business journey started in February of 2010 where we had the opportunity to purchase 16 acres of beautiful pasture land with all the right conditions for a vineyard and site of a winery... Calico Skies had experience an amazing Grand Opening on May 21st, 2011 where over 1200 guests entered the building, since then we have enjoyed every minute of getting to know our guests and introducing our wines and look forward to the adventures to come.

Herein lies the archived step by step happenings where Calico Skies Vineyard and Winery began from April 2010 to April 2011...